Markets

The Permanent Senate Subcommittee on Investigations used Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands International and Budweiser-maker AB InBev to lay bare how U.S. tax laws have created an un-level playing field for America's largest and most recognizable companies.

The key question being asked by the investors in Chinese stock market – especially the offshore investors– right now seems to be whether the administrative intervention will impact the critically needed market reforms. Most of the investors who we spoke to tend to think that the recent policy changes have added uncertainty to the reform outlook, which is expected to revive and drive China's economy. Many also worry that the chances of an early further liberalization[...]
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With Michel Platini, French footballing legend and boss of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), hotly priced at 8/13 by online bookmaker Betway Group to become the next President of FIFA, the sports global governing body, the sports betting firm currently has odds of 5/1 that the World Cup will expand from 32 teams to 40 - one of Platini’s proposals.
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RetailWire

With retailers from Aldi to Wegmans selling organic foods and other products, Whole Foods has never faced so much competition. Industry insiders on the RetailWire BrainTrust indicated that the combination of competition and scandal has indeed given Whole Foods something to worry about.
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The weakness in the Shanghai Composite spooked investors at the start of the week but they seemed to be less concerned as the week progressed since the Composite lost another 10%. It was the worst month for the Shanghai Composite in the past six years.
As the US market gapped lower to start the week the full slate of earnings reports and economic reports made many nervous. Therefore the 1.20% gain for the week in the Spyder Trust (SPY) was a pleasant surprise.
The earnings seasons has been[...]
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Taiwan in the second quarter didn’t come close to reaching the government’s GDP growth forecast issued only in May, underscoring pressure from the easing expansion in mainland China’s economy and inventory build-up in the electronics industry.
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No economy can have its cake and eat it too. The overarching objective of modern China’s economic reform program, which was launched in 1978 soon after the death of Mao Zedung and perhaps best encapsulated in Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 pronouncement of the concept of a “socialist market economy”, has been always fraught with inherent contradictions.
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Given the markets performance over the past six years it’s no wonder that so many investors have joined the buy-and-hold parade. But as the investment herd stampedes in the passive direction this may be a good time to step-back and consider the logic of that run.
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